LOST GOLF BALLS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1983, 13 February 1914, Page 7

LOST GOLF BALLS

JUDGE'S WITTY, DISSERTA^K)J&

"'Whoso.property: is a los.t-.golf hail'?*' 1 I!eeeiit Magreterial decisions on, the point have 'been somewhat inked,. anij. Judge Pariy has a witfcy smnm.in.g-ilj) of sonic- of ..theni in the January..Miipvbcr o| /the "Oorjihill .Magazine,." "A. goli ball, 1 take it," ho writes, '.'is the subject of ownership, although tho ownfifsiiip is of a Very footing and prccn.rious nature.

"The- golf ball Washed up on tho sea" shore- and found as you take yoitf Svmday, stroll upon tlio beach., 1 take to ho a wreck de' wieT; ; being undoubtedly in. the last ilistaneo ejecteia iniiris. "Personally," ho coiitcssca, "the kind of .ball that I tee- up at tliq tenth at Llailduilno, oi , tlv.o sixth at 3S'eSv<iuay, or at any scitsido iiolc, .is,a wjteet 'before it Ti-tarts., but onco ctrh*eh the 'shipwreck: is .gcn-orally --completo.-. A : ii:d wlion such .RoaSs are oast upon tho land by the -.sea au.d loft thet'o within Some county, it seems that they belong *o tlio by his prerogative fts Lord of tlio Nar* raw Seas, or perhaps to the lord of tho majior.

"And r'emoin-ber that your golf ball •niay bse eit-lter BatsaTO, jotsa.m, or ligau— (fotsam if -it- is a floater and jeniaing on.the, surface; jptsa-m if it sinks mid remains under water; Jigtfn if yo:u know w-hc-fe it is lying and haTO marked its with a buqy, •

"My experience j-s that fcli<> buoy very seldom marks it. But in ail these- eases, ' if .yob do not- appear to claim your ijal'F, it is the ho h.a.tl.i made a grant of Week jetsam, flotsam., and ligaii to; the Lord of the Manor.

"The 'penalties that may : bo suffered by one wta picks up iv goif ball on the ■forosho-fo' and thereby interferes with rights of- 'wreck! aro vej-y. serious, but the ujero ttafc iii eo d.aing ono tatty ho tampering. with 'tho ltoya-1 -prerogative will bo sufficient in restrain- the. trtio golfer from so d-isv ■loyal ail att'tion."

Though lie can find no direct authority upon the point, Judge Parry's legal instinct lends him' to telrove. that this ■?. law of wrick only applies to flic $c.»and tidal. waters.